Caps lose sixth straight game to surging Islanders

The way the New York Islanders forward is
going, that might be the only thing that cools him off.

Blake netted two goals, and Rick DiPietro
made 33 saves, lifting the surging Islanders to a 4-1 victory over the
slumping Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

Blake has goals in four of five games for the Islanders, 6-1-1 in their
last eight. Washington, still smarting from a 7-1 home loss to Toronto
on Friday, lost its sixth straight -- including two overtime defeats.

"He wants to score goals every time he is on the ice," DiPietro said of
his U.S. Olympic teammate. "Every time he gets the puck, everyone on the
bench thinks that we're going to have a chance to score."

The only downside came when captain Alexei Yashin
stumbled to the bench late in the third period after absorbing a knee-to-knee
collision with Washington's Matt Bradley.

Yashin, who assisted on both goals by Blake, declined to talk after the
game. He was diagnosed with a bruised knee and will have an MRI taken
Monday.

"A little nervous, actually," Blake said of his feelings when Yashin
went down. "He's a tough guy, a tough competitor. Hopefully it's nothing
to worry about."

DiPietro denied two earlier scoring chances by Ovechkin, last season's
NHL rookie of the year. The flashy forward twice fired pucks from the
slot that DiPietro stopped. Eric Fehr
also was turned aside when DiPietro quickly slid across the crease and
handled his hard, one-timed shot.

"Anytime you get your team battling that hard in front of the net for
you it's going to pay off," DiPietro said.

Both teams started slowly as they each took the ice for the third time
in four days. While the Islanders found their legs, the Capitals
couldn't shake the doldrums.

Blake finished off a pretty triangular passing play that saw the puck
move from Yashin in the left circle to Sean Hill
at the dot in the right. Hill spotted Blake alone at the left post and hit
the center of his stick with a pass that was deflected into the open
side for a power-play goal with 5:00 left in the first.

Just 1:18 into the second, New York's 5-foot-10 spark plug struck again
and bolstered what already was the best start of his eight-season NHL
career.

"Well, I'm playing with Alexei Yashin and he's getting me the puck,"
Blake said. "Ever since we've been joined, things have been going good."

Yashin again got the rush going by deftly lifting a pass from the
neutral zone to Blake as he crossed into the Washington end. Blake
rushed around former Islanders defenseman John
Erskine, drew goalie Olie Kolzig
out of the net before backhanding a shot behind him while going airborne
across the crease.

Blake, who scored a career-high 28 goals last season, has a team-best 14
goals and 24 points through 22 games.

"He seemed to have his skates in overdrive," Islanders coach Ted Nolan
said. "He was flying all over the ice."

Park stretched New York's lead to 3-0 with 1:20 remaining in the second
period, finding a rebound among three Capitals in front and knocking in
his third.

"We're just getting some bad bounces," said Kolzig, who made 26 saves.
"I'm a firm believer that the bounces even out, though. We'll get our
share."

DiPietro, who lost three shutouts in the final 10 minutes of his
previous six starts, carried another blanking into the third period, but
Ovechkin scored a power-play goal 2:48 in. That snapped the Islanders'
streak of 16 consecutive penalty kills -- including nine in a 3-1
victory Friday over Pittsburgh.

Washington could've broken New York's run late in the first when New
York took three consecutive penalties. The Islanders killed a 5-on-3
power play that was extended to nearly two minutes by the third penalty.

Notes

The Islanders inducted forward Bob Bourne into the team's new
Hall of Fame. Bourne was a member of New York's four Stanley
Cup-winning teams from 1980-83.

Washington is 1-2-2 in the second half of back-to-back games.

Ovechkin has goals in three of four games.

Hunter's empty-net goal was New York's first short-handed tally this
season.

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The Islanders' Richard Park (R) chips in a goal to lift New York past struggling Washington.
(Getty Images)